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Otherwise philosophy, Philosophy otherwise

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On November 25, 2021
Levinasian philosophical practices Friday 26 November 2021, 1:00pm–6pm EST. Live-streaming on MS Teams 1:00pm: Welcome and Introduction 1:15pm (8:15 pm in South Africa): Helen Douglas, Philosophical Counsellor, Cape Town, South Africa, “Otherwise Philosophy or Philosophy Otherwise: Levinasian Philosophical Practices”. I’ll be talking about my counselling work as an interpersonal Levinasian practice of ethics and emancipation […]
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The Housekeeper’s Tale

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On August 2, 2021
International Solidarity in Apartheid South Africa Keynote Address North American Levinas Society “Solidarity and Community” 29 July 2021 Need I remind anyone again / that armed struggle is an act of love? ~ Keorapetse Willie Kgositsile In 1987, my husband Rob and I were recruited in Canada to move to Johannesburg to run a safehouse […]
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New article: TO CHANGE OUR THINKING: PHILOSOPHICAL PRACTICE FOR DIFFICULT TIMES

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On January 17, 2017
South African Journal of Philosophy, 35 (2), 2016, pp 123–131. You can find it here or there. The self-confidence of the human being, freedom, has first of all to be aroused again in the hearts of these people. Karl Marx ABSTRACT: If a time of crisis calls for a new mode of thinking, philosophical practice […]
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QA 53. The wheels in my head go round and round

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On April 5, 2015
Participants in last year’s “Archives of the Non-racial” mobile workshop through South Africa and Swaziland were asked to submit fragments of our notebooks – doodles, notes, reflections, poems, coffee stains. These have been gathered in the JWTC’s online journal, The Salon. Check out all the loveliness here.  This is my bit. Solidarity and the non-racial (Political struggle 1) “I’m not […]
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QA 52. The real world keeps us honest

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On January 18, 2015
Still thinking about the need for a new mode of thinking… What is the proper relation between philosophy and science now? Last year, citing Stephen (Philosophy-is-Dead) Hawking and Martin Heidegger, I wrote about “the end of philosophy” in the triumph of science. Given the massive productivity of scientific theory and technology and a world in […]
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QA 51. Optical illusions, the political economy of

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On December 1, 2014
One image that can be seen in two distinct ways, but never both at once. Faces or a vase? Duck or rabbit? Crone or maiden? Someone shows you: See, the old woman’s chin is the young woman’s throat! All of a sudden, you do see. You start to switch the two back and forth, grinning like […]
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QA 50! Thoughts at sea

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On October 26, 2014
A funny thing happened at the Philosophy Café last month. I got lost. We all set sail on a conversation about “sadness”, but I didn’t know what they were talking about. My mind was clear and present. I just couldn’t relate, couldn’t get a grip, couldn’t participate. And the good ship “we” sailed on without me. […]
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New essay: PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELLING AS A PRACTICE OF EMANCIPATION

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On April 28, 2014
This paper has just been published in Philosophical Practice, the journal of the American Philosophical Practice Association. You can find it here  and there … PHILOSOPHICAL COUNSELLING AS A PRACTICE OF EMANCIPATION Helen Douglas, Philosophy in Practice, Cape Town Abstract: This is a second ‘field report’ of a Levinassian philosophical counseling practice. The first part elaborates the practice by […]
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QA 45. Much obliged?

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On November 30, 2013
For months I’ve been like a hound dog barking at a rabbit hole. Then I think I fell in because things got kind of strange. Here’s how it went… Step 1 (QA 44). The development of philosophical practice as ethical and emancipatory leads me to think about human dignity as integral, inherent and immeasurable. And […]
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QA 40. Apr 2013. The ignorant emancipated philosopher

  • Posted by Helen Douglas
  • On April 5, 2013
Last week I attended “Phenomenology and Its Futures”, the inaugural conference of the South African Centre for Phenomenology – and a splendid conference it was! I spoke on “Philosophy as a practice of emancipation”. Followers of this blog will know I’ve been beavering away at this for a while. The paper described my philosophical counselling practice […]
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